The Chaps Made Me Do It
by Jenns.Fiction
Summary: ** REPOST ** Modern day AU. Katniss Everdeen, barrel racer, meets Peeta Mellark, bull rider, at a rodeo. Written from a prompt for kismet4891. Rated M for language and innuendo.


**Disclaimer: I do not claim any ownership over The Hunger Games whatsoever. I do not gain anything, profit or otherwise, from writing in this universe.**

See below for author's notes.

* * *

Katniss eased her horse into a trot before hopping off and patting its flank. "Good job, Buttercup," she murmured, digging a sugar cube from her pocket and offering it to the mare. "I just wish Prim had given you a different name."

"Why should I have given her a different name?" asked a voice similar to Katniss's. "What's wrong with 'Buttercup'?"

"Well, little duck," Katniss began, addressing her younger sister with the nickname given years ago, "I mean, as cute as the name is, it doesn't necessarily convey a sense of speed, you know?"

"You hush up, you." Prim made a face and then turned to the horse as they headed for her stall. "Don't listen to mean ol' Katniss, Buttercup," she said in a sing-song voice, as if she were talking to a child. "You are a beautiful girl, and you have the best name ever."

Katniss rolled her eyes playfully then winked at Prim. "All right, you, if you're done with your pep talk, why don't you go find Rory and watch Vick do some mutton bustin'? I'm gonna get our girl taken care of."

"Okay." Prim gave Buttercup's muzzle a quick kiss before turning away. "See you later, yeah?"

"Of course." Katniss led the mare into her stall and began removing her saddle. Once it was out of the way and stored, she grabbed a brush and started the process of relaxing her horse after another round of barrel racing. "Such a good girl," she whispered, each pass of the brush in her hand calming both Buttercup and herself.

Just as she was finishing up, a smiling brunette entered the stall. "Hey, Katniss. Great run out there."

"Thanks, Annie." Katniss gave Buttercup another pat on her flank and then turned to her friend and the resident vet on staff. "This girl's got a nice rest coming."

"That she does," Annie replied, reaching up to stroke the horse's mane. "You off to meet up with Johanna and the rest of the girls?"

"Yeah, they want to watch some of the other events before the dance later."

Annie flashed a knowing grin. "They want to check out the new guy, don't they?"

Katniss let out a bark of laughter and shrugged. "You'd think they'd never seen a cowboy in leather chaps and a Stetson before."

"Well, I'll tell ya, the boy's a looker. Finn introduced us earlier and I have to say, if I wasn't already engaged, I'd be offering him more than an eight-second ride."

"Annie!" Katniss tried to feign a look of scandalized shock but couldn't hold it for more than a second before the two of them broke down in a giggling fit. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You know how Madge and Delly love their 'eye candy'," she explained, lifting her hands and making quotation marks in the air.

"That they do." Annie shook her head knowingly. "You should probably get going, keep an eye on them so they don't do anything stupid. Anything I need to look for with Buttercup?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. She's been doing pretty well, and I'm trying not to push her too hard in practices."

"Good, good. Now go on, get outta here so I can do my job."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Waving over her shoulder, Katniss headed out to find her other friends.

* * *

"Hey, brainless!"

Katniss looked towards the voice to see Johanna waving at her. Once they made eye contact, Katniss started making her way up the stands to sit with her friends. "Jo," she huffed after reaching them, "how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

"Well, clearly the name fits because it hasn't sunk in yet that I'm going to keep calling you 'brainless' no matter what you say." Johanna smirked and then scooted over to give Katniss more room to sit. "Saw you shaved off another half-second from your best time."

Katniss nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, I've been working with Gale on ways to be faster," she explained. "Hunching down closer to Buttercup, leaning a bit more into the turns, pulling tighter to the barrels, that kind of thing."

Before Johanna could respond, an explosion of shrill screams burst from the two women sitting before them. "Speaking of tight..."

"He's up soon!" Delly whooped in excitement. "I can't wait!"

"Me neither!" Madge agreed. "I hear he's absolutely dreamy!"

Katniss eyed the two blondes bouncing anxiously in their seats. "'Dreamy'? What are we, twelve?"

Johanna exhaled loudly and hunched her shoulders. "They have been like this ever since we got here. I'm pretty sure they're working up the bulls with their high-pitched squealing." She pretended to dig a finger into her right ear. "I think I went deaf by sometime around the second rider."

"With the way these two are carrying on, I wouldn't doubt it. How'd Finnick do, by the way?"

"Almost got the full eight, but then the bull gave him hell."

"Ah, damn it. He's all right, though? Didn't get hurt or anything?"

"He was fine. Jumped clear and the clowns took care of it."

"Nice." Katniss winced as Delly and Madge shrieked as the announcer introduced the next rider. "Can't we muffle these two?"

"Don't I wish." Johanna stretched and turned to face forward. "Maybe this Peeta Mellark guy will get thrown really quickly and that will be the end of it."

Delly swung around and flashed a scandalized look at Johanna. "You hush your mouth!"

"Yeah, Jo," Madge added, throwing a scowl worthy of Katniss's standards over her shoulder. "Don't jinx the poor guy before he even gets out there."

"Whatever." Leaning back against the bleacher behind her, Johanna's expression quickly morphed from mild annoyance to blatant disinterest. "Katniss and I will let you two get your rocks off in semi-privacy."

Katniss scoffed at the twin middle-finger salutes from Madge and Delly. "All this fuss over some guy that none of us have seen yet. Give me a…"

She trailed off as the announcer's voice crackled from the loudspeaker near their heads. "This next guy is a relative newcomer to the circuit, but he shows a lot of promise. Let's just hope he can keep that pretty face of his out of harm's way, right?" He chuckled as random female voices from around the stadium rang out in support. "Come on, Peeta Mellark! Show us what you can do, son!"

"Oh." Katniss sat up straight the minute she saw the bull shoot out of the gate, trying to buck its rider off its back. The crowd noise seemed to melt away as she noted the cowboy's blond curls streaked with a touch of light brown peeking out from under the brim of his Stetson. She was entranced by the way his leg muscles tensed as he fought to ride the full eight seconds.

Katniss didn't realize she had been holding her breath until a horn blared and a loud cheer arose in the stands as Peeta jumped clear of the bull and started waving to the crowd. She couldn't move her gaze from him as he jogged to the edge of the ring, climbed up the fence, and played to the audience.

And then his bright blue eyes found her silvery gray ones and held fast.

_Ah, hell._

* * *

Katniss sat between Johanna and Gale, lounging on a wooden picnic table bench. She stretched her legs and pointed her toes, feeling sweet relief as her muscles loosened. "Is it just me, or has it been a long day?"

"Just you, Catnip," Gale joked before lifting his beer to his lips. He drank deeply, draining the bottle and then setting it on the table behind him. "Saw your run today. Glad to see our work paying off."

"Maybe just a bit," she teased in return, elbowing her friend in his side. When he grimaced and rubbed the spot where she hit him, she laughed out loud and turned to Johanna. "You know, for a bronc rider, this guy's getting pretty soft."

"Yeah, in the head." Johanna easily dodged the bottle cap Gale launched at her from behind Katniss's back. She leaned forward and blew a raspberry at him. "Bet you couldn't hit the side of a barn, what with your aim."

"Might have been scared it'd fly into your mouth," he shot back. "Then again, probably wouldn't have been the strangest thing you've had in there."

"All right, you two, knock it off." Katniss held her hands up in surrender. "I don't know about y'all, but I for one would rather be listening to the band on stage than the two of you bickering."

Johanna sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's what we do best," she muttered.

Just then, the three were hastily joined by Madge and Delly, who came running up and almost smacking into the table. "Hey, y'all," Madge breathed in a low voice, "have you seen if Peeta's still around?"

"Peeta Mellark?" Gale asked with a snort of laughter. "You mean that pretty-boy, bull-riding newbie who thinks he can show off for everyone?"

Without thinking about it, Katniss elbowed Gale again in the same spot where she had hit him earlier. She grinned as he cried out in pain. "Be nice, Gale," she warned, not paying attention to the glare he aimed at her. "He seems like a good guy."

Next to Katniss, Johanna started guffawing. "Uh huh, sure, Katniss. 'Seems like a good guy.' Does that explain why you and he looked like you wanted to rip each other's clothes off after his ride was over?"

"Jo!" Katniss felt the blush rushing into her cheeks, not to mention the judging stare from Gale. "It wasn't like that!"

"I don't know, Katniss," Delly piped up. "He did kind of give you the once-over."

"It's true!" Madge added. "I thought it was me at first, but after a while, it was pretty clear he couldn't take his eyes off of you."

"Just stop, all of you, okay?" Thoughts whirled inside Katniss's head, all of which centered on the blue-eyed blond man who captivated her earlier. "It was nothing, I'm telling you."

"Huh. Well, we'll just see if it was nothing." Johanna had spotted some movement over Katniss's shoulder and stood up to wave her arms over her head. "Finnick! Annie! Over here!"

Gale glanced in the same direction as Johanna and sighed in resignation. "Speak of the devil."

Katniss willed her nerves to settle as her friends were leading none other than Peeta Mellark over to their table. _It's fine, Katniss,_ she thought to herself, _he's just like everyone else here...except he's got blue eyes, blond hair, and an ass that won't stop in those damn leather chaps of his._

_Fuck. I'm screwed._

"Hey, guys," Finnick greeted them, sparing a shoulder pat for Gale. "Nice spot y'all got here."

"We try," Gale deadpanned. "Who's your friend?"

Annie's face brightened as she nudged Peeta forward. "Guys, this is Peeta Mellark," she said in her light, enthusiastic voice. "Peeta, this is Gale Hawthorne, Johanna Mason, Delly Cartwright, Madge Undersee, and-"

"Katniss Everdeen," Peeta finished for Annie, smiling as he extended a hand towards Katniss. When she offered her own, he gave it a gentle squeeze. "I saw you barrel racing. You're really good."

"Thanks." Of all the compliments she'd received that day about her race, why was Peeta's the only one that made her feel all warm inside? "I saw you ride today, too. Not bad for a newbie."

It didn't seem possible, but Peeta's smile grew even brighter. "I'm sure that's high praise, coming from you," he teased, giving her a wink in return.

"Um, guys?" Madge gestured for everyone to move closer. "I hate to say it, but I think the fangirls are moving in."

Both Delly and Johanna looked around furtively, noting the ever-growing group of rodeo groupies approaching. "Damn," Delly murmured, "it's probably because Gale, Finnick, and Peeta are all here."

"It's all right," Johanna replied. "I've got this." She cleared her throat and announced loudly enough for the fangirls to hear, "So, boys, am I right when I say that the only wild things you can handle underneath you are of the animal variety?"

Katniss furiously bit back her laughter as she watched Finnick shrug, Gale tip his hat and raise his second beer to Johanna, and Peeta dip his head and rub the back of his neck, all while their groupies frowned and disappeared into the crowd. "Why don't y'all sit down? Maybe we wouldn't attract as much attention."

Everyone agreed and settled around the table; Gale, Katniss, Madge, and Delly on one side, and Johanna, Peeta, Annie, and Finnick on the other. Gale raised an eyebrow upon seeing the label on the beer bottle sitting in front of Peeta's folded arms. "Coors Light? Is Pretty-boy Peeta watching his delicate figure? Or maybe he can't handle drinking with the big boys?"

Katniss narrowed her eyes at her friend, but Peeta just chuckled good-naturedly. "I'm taking it easy tonight," he explained. "Besides, I don't want beer goggles when there are so many pretty girls to admire."

Biting her lip to hide her smile, Katniss looked over at Johanna, who was shaking her head while Delly and Madge practically swooned in their seats. _Seriously, what's going on with me? I don't normally fall for this kind of sweet talk, but hearing it from his lips..._

_Damn it, I'm so incredibly screwed._

Just at that moment, a whoop went up from the dance floor as the band started playing an upbeat song, rousing Katniss from her thoughts. "Oh! I love this song," she declared.

"Me too," Peeta agreed with a nod then offered his hand to her. "Would you like to dance?"

Before Katniss could respond, both Gale and Johanna simultaneously snorted and grinned mischievously. "Catnip doesn't dance," Gale proclaimed, shooting her a look that dared her to disagree with him.

"He's right," Johanna added, keeping her eyes trained on Katniss. "We've been coming to these things for a long time, and she's never set foot out there."

Annoyed by her friends' reactions, Katniss smacked her palms on the table and shot to her feet. "Actually," she began, raising her voice, "I'd love to, Peeta, thank you." She stepped over the bench and allowed herself to be led to the dance floor.

Peeta never saw Katniss turn back to the table and stick her tongue out at the rest of the group.

Once on the floor, Peeta took Katniss into a basic hold for a two-step, and together, they started to move to the music. Katniss never claimed to be that great of a dancer, but Peeta's lead made it easy for her to look like she knew what she was doing. "Huh. So not only can you ride a bull with the best of them, but you're light on your feet as well."

"I might know a thing or two about dancing with a pretty girl."

Katniss snickered. "Ah, you don't just ride a bull; you speak it, too."

Peeta lifted a shoulder, admitting his guilt. "All right, you got me. My older brothers made me take dance classes with them a few years ago when they were trying to impress these girls that they'd met."

"And did it work?"

"Nah. I was the only one who picked anything up. They both got kicked out after the second class because they stomped on too many feet."

Katniss felt her lips stretching into a smile that she knew wouldn't go away for quite some time. "So how'd you get into bull riding?"

"Well, I used to wrestle back in high school and college, and one night, some of my teammates took me to a bar that had one of those mechanical bulls. After a few shots and a badly worded dare, I climbed up on that thing, and the rest...well, it's history, I guess."

"So," Katniss said, her smile taking a sly edge, "you liked having something wild bucking underneath you, did you?"

A twinkle flashed in Peeta's eye as he mirrored Katniss's smirk. "A rough ride isn't always a bad thing, darlin'."

_Oh, hell, I'm in trouble now._

"What about you?" he continued. "Do you like having something fast and sleek between your legs?"

_Fuck. This man will be the death of me._

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," she teased, "although there's something about a hard, fast ride that gets my blood rushing."

"Right," he drawled, not giving anything away in his expression. "And let me guess – you like those really fast rides where you have to hold on so tightly with your legs that afterwards, it feels like you'll never be able to close them properly again, huh?"

She nodded and breathed deeply to try to calm her racing heartbeat. "And I bet that after a ride so hard and rough, you're all sweaty and sore," she paused, letting her fingers trail down the buttons of his shirt to rest just above his belt buckle, "but you find it incredibly satisfying."

Peeta gazed at her for a moment before slowly leaning down and brushing his lips against Katniss's ear. "Sounds like you and I like a lot of the same things," he whispered.

_Stick a fork in me – I'm done._

Katniss let Peeta pull her even closer into his body; so much so that she could feel his quickly rising cock begin pushing against her belly.

She knew that wasn't the Coors Light talking there.

Rising onto her tiptoes, she nuzzled his ear and then murmured, "So, any chance I can see your ass in just the chaps?"

"Well, hell, darlin', find us a place where we can be alone, and I'll show you just what I can do in them."

That was the first time Katniss had run faster than she could ride her horse.

* * *

Much later, as the dance was winding down, Johanna scanned the area, trying to figure out where her friend had gone. Suddenly, she saw Katniss making her way back from the stables. Running over to meet her, Johanna cocked an eyebrow. "Where the hell were you?"

Katniss glanced off to her right, where Peeta was walking over to grab another beer, fixing his jeans along the way. "Just...checking something out."

"Mm hmm." Johanna reached over, pulled multiple pieces of straw from Katniss's hair, and displayed them in her hands. "Were you checking them out while on your back or on all fours?"

Katniss couldn't stop the reddening of her cheeks or her satisfied grin from showing as Johanna gasped and laughed in glee. "The boy definitely knows how to ride."

* * *

_This story was written for my awesomely awesome friend kismet4891, who gave me a drabble prompt of "Redneck Everlark at a rodeo" on my fiction Tumblr. Needless to say, it kind of got away from me, but I hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and she made the coolest banner for this story! Thank you, K!_

_I have been asked to write a certain "missing scene" from this story, so if enough readers want to see it, I'll do it. Let me know if you want more by leaving a __review!_

_I have some Tumblr-only material if you'd like to read more. Details are on my profile page._


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